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Category Archives: Tabetha Hoover

Authors, it’s not just important, it’s imperative that you research your publisher before you sign on the dotted line. If you don’t, you could fall into the clutches of a scam publisher. They’re out there, poised to take advantage of your eagerness to publish, and to exploit your work to their own financial gain.

Like this one did:

Erotica publisher, author charged for manipulating book sales
Erotica publisher Jana Karetko is facing charges after altering her clients’ book sales reports and pocketing the stolen royalties. In some instances, she even inflated or exaggerated book sales to make the authors believe the novels were doing well or becoming bestsellers. Among the many thefts, she’s also accused of falsifying her income on a tax return and not filing returns for two consecutive years.

That sounds so familiar, doesn’t it?

She was arrested and charged Monday with five counts of money laundering, four counts of felony theft, nine counts of computer crime and three counts of tax evasion.

It’s been more than a year since I typed the words ‘Tabetha Jones’ in a blog post. I got sick of her taking up space in my head. I got sick of her headgames, her miserable, crooked treatment of authors. I got sick of HER.

But when I saw that article, it made me think.

I originally blogged about Tabetha because she scammed my kid, among many other authors. To date, my daughter is the only author I know of that Tabetha repaid. There are maybe dozens of others that were scammed through a multitude of bogus companies she owned (but never properly formed) like Mystic Press, Phoenix Fire Publishing, Sweete Sinz, et al, that were lied to, cheated, and have never been repaid. For their sake, I continued blogging about her and her shady dealings, to vindicate them and warn new would-be victims.

I last blogged about Tabetha, saying that as far as I knew, she wasn’t actively trying to publish anybody’s work but her own-but if I heard anything new, I’d report it.

Well, I can’t prove that she’s at it again (if she ever left off), but I have heard whispers about a whole flurry of new names, new bogus companies, new aliases, etc.

I’ve also heard rumors about her claiming that she and her “powers” are to blame for my house burning down last year, “karma” from her angels and guardians. Saying that’s why I don’t blog about her anymore, because I’ve finally been “put in my place” and that I’m too scared of her to dare.

Rubbish.

As if she had the power to do anything but wipe her own ass.

An outlet shorted and lit up the sofa. End of story.

But it’s important to mention because if this is the sort of thing she’s telling people to frighten them into submission, it needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the light of day and exposed.

That’s the sort of thing she became infamous for, intimidating her victims, either with exaggerated tales of her imaginary powers, or threats from the men in her life (real or imagined. Like the fake and ill-fated Bo). Getting authors so afraid of her wrath that they wouldn’t dare question the ineptitude of her services or discrepancies in their (lack of) royalties. They just shy away, battered and bruised, some too traumatized to try to publish again.

That’s why, when the first brave souls stepped forward with horror stories, bloggers like Emily Suess, Janrae Frank, Erotic Romance and I spoke up. To warn new authors from falling victim.

I also urged her victims to report her to the authorities. The FBI. The IRS. Her local Attorney General. The District Attorney. That’s how the Colorado crook was caught. A victim turned her in to her local DA. Et voila. Come July 7th, she’ll stand in front of a judge to answer for it.

And now, seeing this article, I wish more of the victims I advocated for would have turned Tabetha in. All evidence indicates that she did exactly the same thing this woman from Colorado did. And if she’d been found guilty earlier on, it would have saved countless others from being victimized. Including any that might be in her clutches now.

If so inclined, I could chase her down and find out what, if any, new schemes she’s using to sucker new victims. But, truth be told, I don’t want to give her that much of my energy. She doesn’t deserve that much of my time. I’ve got a life to live, loved ones to dote on, and my own projects to finish.

There’s another reason I put that woman’s name on my tongue. One of Tabetha’s favorite tactics has historically been to sucker new authors victims in by saying “That was in the past!” “I’ve learned from my mistakes!” “Everybody deserves a second chance!”

No. She hasn’t and they don’t. After so many chances, so many victims left in her destructive wake, enough is enough. If you’ve heard these platitudes from your would-be publisher, run. Seriously. Run.

If you’re an author that’s been unfortunate enough to deal with Tabetha Willis/Saulters/Hoover/Jones/Simpson/whatever, I strongly urge you disentangle yourself from her and protect your work.

Always, ALWAYS research your publisher before you sign any contract. Make sure the company exists. Make sure it’s legit. Check watchdog sites like Writer Beware, Absolute Write water cooler. Google your publisher’s name to see if they show up on warning blogs like this one. If, like Jones (et al), they show up on multiple sites and blogs warning you about dealing with them, it’s probably a good idea to listen.

Ask the hard questions. If you don’t get the right answers, don’t let yourself be snowed. This is your work, your career, your name on the line. Don’t be shy or polite about protecting it.

Now, if it’s okay, I need to go shower to get that foul wretch’s stink off me. And meditate to get her out of my head. Distract myself with something pleasant. Like a cute and fluffy kitten named Brutus.

Tabetha’s a public figure now.
Or, Zoey Sweete is. I know, same thing. Either way, it’s funny as hell.
Self publishing some illiterate spank-smut and rolling around naked on the couch so her sister can take pictures makes her a public figure.

And I am the queen of Sheba.

Let her have her delusions. She got a picture into a vanity magazine, so of course she’s the next morbidly obese supermodel of the world. More power to her. At least she’s not pretending to be a publisher anymore. And that’s a good thing, because she still hasn’t learned how to spell. There are several faux pas in her ego-stroking write-up of her involvement with a local model-broker.Wouldn’t her new boss be proud, having somebody with her literary skills in their corner? I know I would be. Not.

Wait… what? She’s still playing publisher, too?

Well, it is true that she’s still got books out there by former authors victims on sites like Amazon UK, among others. And I hear whispers that she’s quietly planning to re-release her entire “catalog” of books by authors that have long since cut ties with her.

I hope she does. I hope she keeps every third party sales going, and has the nerve to re-publish work she has no legal right to use. And, unlike before, I hope the authors nail her ass to the wall. The only reason she’s still out there ripping people off is because they get so sick of her that they walk away. They simply don’t want to deal with her anymore, even if that means letting her get away with it.

I can understand that. I’m sick of her, too. Nothing would make me happier than if she fell off the face of the planet tomorrow. No lie. But I guarantee that if I had the grounds to prosecute her, I wouldn’t walk away from it. I’d be too worried about the next person she hurts. I couldn’t have it on my conscience that somebody else got hurt after I could have stopped her. That’s why I still blog about her: to let people know what sort of person (author, editor, whatever) she is, so that they can be warned going in.

Whether it’s the next lover, model or author she suckers in, people have a right to know who they’re dealing with, so that they can avoid the lies and abuse.

Troy, you don’t see it because you’re new to the game, but you’ve already fallen into her pattern. She’s got you suckered in with whatever lies she’s told you. She’s got you playing her internet games for her. Is she using you for money, yet? She got the last guy to take out a loan to pay off her probation fines for her, and I’ll bet dollars to donuts he’ll never see that money again. What about you? Got a job? Contributing to the household bills yet? She’s already got you entwined into her drama. Has she got you contributing to her habits, too? Or has she still got those hidden? Has she got you thinking she’s little Suzie homemaker? Or have you caught her partying all night and sleeping her lazy ass in all day? Hey, if that’s your idea of a hot catch, more power to you. But make no mistake. Whatever story she told you about herself (that she’s some emerging superstar model, publisher writer, whatever), whatever she’s said about us (that we’re all liars and haters, whatever), whatever she said about anything, IT WAS A LIE. We’ve known her a hell of a lot longer than you have, and we’ve seen it all before. Repeatedly.

Every single guy before you – and the last one was RIGHT before you, by a matter of days, maybe weeks (she called him her king dragon, too, in case you didn’t know) – has discovered the same thing: That we’re right about her. It takes them a while, because she does lying to people’s faces really well, but sooner or later, they all see it. If you’re a smart man, do what I invited you to do in the first place. Read this blog from the oldest post to the newest one. Read. Learn. Save yourself the time and pain of finding out the hard way.

As for the rest of you, I hereby challenge you. If you’ve got any legal action that you could take against her, do it. I know a couple of her former authors that are cooperating with local, Federal and international authorities to investigate her crimes against them. And that’s a beautiful thing. If the rest of you would step forward as well you’ll not only be reclaiming your own destiny, you might be stopping her from doing it to the next person.

Same thing about her kid. If you’re someone with knowledge of any actions or circumstances that present any sort of unhealthy situation for her child report her to CPS. Imagine if you were a child living like that. Wouldn’t you wish that somebody had advocated for you? It’s not about “getting” Tabetha. It’s about doing what’s right for a little girl that can’t fight for herself. One that deserves a decent life.

Stop letting her skate just because she’s so detestable you don’t want to deal with her anymore. Put a screeching halt to her path of destruction. Once and for all.

Then we can dedicate more time to pointing and laughing at the little femme, Nikita. Won’t that be fun?

I was updating my profile information on Goodreads a few minutes ago, and it occured to me to take a quick glance at Zoey Sweete and Tabetha (Hoover) Jones profiles. I’m glad I did. I found something interesting.

As we all know, ZOEY SWEETE IS TABETHA JONES. She likes to treat the two of them as if they’re separate people, but they are, in fact, both Tabetha (Hoover) Jones. And it looks like she’s been so busy being America’s next super-plus sized model that she’s neglected to update her many, many online presences.

Under both names, there are a lot of the old anthologies still advertized, still displayed as if they’re current works. That’s a no-no.

These books contain the names of many authors that have defnitively severed ties with Tabetha (Hoover) Jones, many of whom vehemently do NOT want their names associated with hers in any way, shape or form. The books might have been removed from Amazon, but there they still are on Tab and Zoey’s respective Goodreads profiles.

There are also books that we all know were originally published with content from authors that are no longer with her – only those names no longer appear on the listing. Books like Beautifully Broken, which now only displays Zoey Sweete as the author.

Here’s a list of books credited to Zoey Sweete with various and assorted titles that you might want to look into if you were once published by Tabetha (Hoover) Jones, any of her fake names, or any one of her dubious “companies.” Check to see if your name is still on books that you pulled out of.

I don’t know if you’d rather talk to her about pulling your content, or contacting Goodreads directly. Or if you’d rather just press charges for fraud. But if you’re one of the many that have disassociated yourself from Tabetha (Hoover) Jones, and no longer want your name associated with hers in any way, you should check to make sure it’s not.

Also, Google yourself. A lot. Make sure that not only is she still using your name directly, but also that your books aren’t being sold by any mysterious “third party” sales where the vendor isn’t named.